1 debutant, 3 top flight champions and 14 nations in the group phase
For 24 teams from 14 countries, including the defending champions and three former EHF Champions League winners, the group phase of the EHF European League will start on Tuesday. Here are the most important facts and figures.
0 goals separated Irun and Kolstad in the tightest round 2 tie after 120 minutes of action as each won their home matches by a three goals advance. In the penalty shoot-out, Irun came out on top.
1 debutant is part of the group phase: Danish club Skanderborg-Aarhus was established in 2021 due to a merge between former Skanderborg Håndbold and Aarhus Håndbold
1 city is represented by two clubs: Portuguese capital Lisbon is home to both Benfica and Sporting.
1 club is part of the Women’s EHF Champions League and the Men’s European League: FTC from Hungary.
1 former EHF Cup winners failed in qualification round 2: Lemgo (against Göppingen).
2 teams, which had qualified for the EHF Finals 2022 in Lisbon, are part of the group phase: winners Benfica and third ranked side Nexe. Finalists Magdeburg and the fourth ranked team from Plock are part of the EHF Champions League this season.
3 clubs, which had been part of EHF FINAL4 tournaments in Cologne, are part of the group phase: Montpellier (2018), Flensburg (2014) and Berlin (2012).
2 former Cup Winners’ Cup winners have qualified for the group phase: Bidasoa Irun (1997) and Flensburg (2011, 2012).
3 teams of the 24 group phase participants were part of the EHF Champions League last season: Flensburg, HC Motor and Montpellier.
3 group phase participants, Presov, Nexe and Pelister Eurofarm, are parallel playing in the multinational SEHA League.
3 former EHF Champions League winners - Bidasoa Irun (1995), Montpellier Handball (2003, 2018) and SG Flensburg-Handewitt (2014) have qualified for the group phase.
3 teams have gone all the way from qualification round 1 to the group phase: Hard, FTC and Aguas Santas. Hard and FTC even won all their four qualification matches.
4 former EHF Cup winners are part of the group phase: Granollers (1995, 1996), Flensburg (1997), Frisch Auf Göppingen (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017) and Füchse Berlin (2015 and 2018).
4 countries, Spain, Germany, Hungary and Portugal, are represented by four teams each, two countries, Denmark and France, have two clubs in the group phase.
4 teams won both matches in qualification round 2: Aguas Santas, Flensburg, Skanderborg-Arhus and Hard.
5 clubs, which had been part of previous EHF Cup Finals, are part of the group phase: Montpellier (2014), Berlin (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019), Göppingen (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018), Skjern (2015) and Granollers (2016).
6 different teams were part of the two EHF finals in Mannheim (2021) and Lisbon (2022): Magdeburg (2), Plock (2), Berlin, Löwen, Benfica and Nexe.
6 of the 24 participants play their first group phase of any EHF club competition: Benidorm, FTC, Fejer Veszprém, Hard, Aguas Santas and Skanderborg-Aarhus
9 teams started their mission in qualification round 2: Montpellier, Nexe, Flensburg, Benidorm, Irun, Skanderborg-Aarhus, Göppingen, Sporting and Veszprém.
10 group matches are ahead for each of the 24 teams.
12 teams from 12 nations were directly seeded to the group phase: Benfica (POR), Schaffhausen (SUI), Ystad (SWE), PAUC (FRA), Granollers (ESP), Skjern (DEN), Berlin (GER), Motor (UKR), Valur (ISL), Balatonfüred (HUN) and Presov (SVK), Eurofarm (MKD)
9 of 24 teams of last season’s group phase are back at the same stage: Nexe, Berlin, Eurofarm, Sporting, Benfica, Schaffhausen, Irun, PAUC and Presov
14 different nations are represented by the 24 teams – compared to 16 in the previous season: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, North Macedonia, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine.
27 goals was the biggest margin in the second qualification round, when Flensburg beat Kwisdyn 76:49 on aggregate.
44 matches of two qualification rounds have already been played before the start of the group phase. 20 in the first round and 24 in round 2.
120 group matches decide the 16 participants of the knock-out stage.
148 matches will be played before we find the winner of the EHF European League Men, including 28 knock-out matches from the Last 16 to the final.
